Disregard

The sun stood high, its light spilling like a golden waterfall, illuminating the lake until its ripples glittered like a golden dragon's scales.

Chen Jianghe stepped out of the cabin, stretched, and looked toward the bustling port in the sunlight.

He had lingered at Port No. 1 for ten days, all to wait for today's Fisher-Farmer Year-End Conference.

The Fisher-Farmer Conference was hosted by the Yun Household, and all junior fisher-farmers were required to attend.

Senior fisher-farmers could choose whether to attend.

Once ashore, he could spot one or two senior fisher-farmers among the many junior fisher-farmers. They wore standard-issue silk fisher-farmer robes, with silver clouds embroidered on their chests.

In the Yun Household, Late Qi Refining Stage guest retainers, craft-specialist guest retainers, and senior fisher-farmers all wore silver clouds embroidered on their chests.

Senior fisher-farmers were also very easy to distinguish from guest retainers.

The Yun Household imposed no dress requirements on guest retainers, but senior fisher-farmers had to wear standard-issue robes.

Clearly, senior fisher-farmers ranked a little below guest retainers.

"Brother Jianghe, over here."

Yu Daniu called out, waving to Chen Jianghe from the crowd.

"Daniu, Old Gao." Chen Jianghe walked over in response.

"Young Chen."

Old Gao looked at Chen Jianghe kindly and gave a slight nod.

During their ten days at Port No. 1, aside from a small gathering on the first day, the three had not met again.

Chen Jianghe had bought some daily necessities, then stayed aboard his fishing boat.

He felt that having Old Gao and Yu Daniu as friends in the Outer Waters was enough. A small gathering once a year was quite nice, too; there was no need to meet often.

Even before transmigrating, he had known that pointless socializing cost not only money but mental energy, with practically no benefits to speak of.

In a cultivation world, pointless socializing was even more out of the question.

It was spirit sand he would be spending.

Talking too much could also make others dislike him. If things went badly, it might even bring death upon him.

After exchanging greetings, the three said little else, quietly listening instead to the discussions of the fisher-farmers around them.

"More than a hundred and thirty fisher-farmers died at the Lan Household's hands. I heard there were even several senior fisher-farmers among them. I really don't know how they tricked senior fisher-farmers into taking short-term work."

"No wonder everyone says the Lan Household stole over eight hundred spirit stones this time. So there were senior fisher-farmers involved!"

"The Lan Household has truly lost every shred of conscience."

"I heard the head of the Lan Household is a powerful cultivator at the Ninth Level of Qi Refining. They slaughtered fisher-farmers and stole their spirit stones this time to amass the resources for Foundation Establishment."

"Hmph. Slaughtering over a hundred fellow cultivators for their own selfish ends-the Yun Household certainly won't let them off."

Chen Jianghe listened to these remarks without a ripple in his heart. He agreed that the Yun Household would not let the Lan Household off.

But it would certainly not be to avenge those hundred-odd fisher-farmers.

Those eight hundred-odd spirit stones were the real reason the Yun Household would not let the Lan Household off.

A little over an hour later, all the junior fisher-farmers had gathered in the port square.

Only then did the Yun Household's cultivators appear.

To Chen Jianghe's surprise, the person presiding over this Fisher-Farmer Conference was actually Yun Bufan.

"Greetings, fellow cultivators. I am Yun Bufan, newly appointed steward of the Outer Waters. I will be presiding over this year's year-end conference."

Yun Bufan delivered some polished platitudes from the raised pavilion in the square, while the fisher-farmers below began discussing his identity in hushed voices. Quite curious about Yun Bufan, Chen Jianghe focused his attention and pricked up his ears to listen to the jumble of whispered gossip.

It turned out that Yun Bufan was the youngest son of the Yun Household's current head. Exceptionally gifted, he possessed a three-element true spiritual root and had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining at just nineteen.

The Yun Household's Foundation Establishment Ancestor had called him a heaven-sent Qilin Child, saying he would certainly break through to the Foundation Establishment realm and had hopes of forming a core.

He had always cultivated on Heart of the Lake Island. Now he had come to the Outer Waters both to gain experience and to temper his state of mind, consolidating his cultivation at the Sixth Level of Qi Refining in preparation for breaking through to the Late Qi Refining Stage.

Hearing this, Chen Jianghe sighed inwardly. A three-element true spiritual root truly was enviable.

As far as he knew, cultivators' spiritual roots generally consisted of five attributes-metal, wood, water, fire, and earth-and were classified as five-element mixed spiritual roots, four-element false spiritual roots, three-element true spiritual roots, two-element earth spiritual roots, and single-element heavenly spiritual roots.

A five-element mixed spiritual root possessed all five attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth at once. They were very mixed and lacking in abundance, and the spiritual root of each attribute was incomplete. Cultivation was therefore slow, with a minor bottleneck when breaking through to the Mid Qi Refining Stage.

Chen Jianghe himself had a five-element mixed spiritual root.

Four-element false spiritual roots were much the same as five-element mixed spiritual roots, only slightly better, but they too encountered a minor bottleneck when breaking through to the Late Qi Refining Stage.

With a three-element true spiritual root, the spiritual root of each attribute was abundant, providing high sensitivity and affinity to spiritual energy, very fast cultivation, and no bottlenecks before Foundation Establishment.

Under ordinary circumstances, cultivators with three-element true spiritual roots could all successfully achieve Foundation Establishment.

Two-element earth spiritual roots offered even greater sensitivity and compatibility with spiritual energy than three-element true spiritual roots, allowing faster cultivation and no bottleneck at Foundation Establishment. So long as their bearers did not die prematurely and cultivated step by step, becoming a Foundation Establishment Ancestor was as certain as a nail driven into a board.

A single-element heavenly spiritual root possessed a single attribute, abundant and complete. Cultivation was several times faster than with ordinary spiritual roots, and rumor had it that even core formation presented no bottleneck.

Chen Jianghe had never heard of a Heavenly Numinous spiritual root appearing at Mirror Moon Lake or the surrounding Market Wards. Even earth spiritual roots were seldom heard of.

Aside from spiritual roots of these five attributes, there was another kind: mutated spiritual roots.

These were spiritual roots formed when two or three of the five elemental attributes mingled, mutated, and underwent sublimation.

Examples included thunder spiritual roots, wind spiritual roots, and ice spiritual roots. Their cultivation speed was in no way inferior to Heavenly Numinous spiritual roots, and they were even rarer.

At this point, Yun Bufan finished his stale introductory remarks on the pavilion platform and began announcing the list of junior fisher-farmers promoted to senior fisher-farmers this year.

This meant that some junior fisher-farmers' fish-farming waters had reached a total yield of three thousand jin this year, with an average fish weight exceeding four jin.

A total of three junior fisher-farmers had been promoted to senior fisher-farmers: one at the sixth level of Qi Refining and two at Qi Refining, Fifth Layer.

Next, Yun Bufan praised those whose fish-farming skills had improved substantially, calling them the Yun Household's future and bestowing great honor upon them.

Chen Jianghe was among them.

This greatly displeased Chen Jianghe. Given his low-key nature, not only had he been thrust into the limelight, but he had received no tangible reward.

It was all just great pies painted in the air with words.

Finally, Yun Bufan encouraged all the fisher-farmers to keep up their efforts and contribute to the lineage. The lineage's glory was everyone's honor.

After the conference ended, Chen Jianghe returned to his fishing boat, a chill growing in his heart. He had not expected Yun Bufan to make no mention of the Lan Household's deeds from beginning to end.

Nor had he mentioned the hundred-odd fisher-farmers who had died so horribly.

It seemed that, in the Yun Household's eyes, a fisher-farmer's life was worth less than a Big Blue Fish.

Or perhaps the Yun Household simply did not regard junior fisher-farmers as human.

The path of cultivation is full of hardship, and life at the bottom is harder still, with danger at every step. Fortunately, I obtained the spirit-turtle lifespan. Otherwise, I probably would have taken that short-term spirit-farming work that day too.

Chen Jianghe shuddered at the thought of what might have happened. With his cultivation at the First Layer of Qi Refinement, he would certainly have been at the rear when the others fled.

After buying the Spirit-Opening Pill, I need to hurry back to 512. It's still a little safer out on the lake.

(End of chapter)